Integrated circuit for wireless communication measurement resource determination and csi reporting

ABSTRACT

There are provided a wireless communication method of configuring a measurement resource and a wireless communication device therefor. The method comprises determining a measurement resource to be disregarded when the number of measurement resources configured in one subframe exceeds the maximum number of measurement resources that a user equipment is able to measure in one subframe, wherein the measurement resource with lower priority is determined to be disregarded, and the measurement resource is not disregarded A times within the duration of N subframes, where A is an integer larger than 1, N corresponds to one plus B*periodicity of the measurement resource, and B is an integer equal to or larger than 1.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a wireless communication method ofconfiguring measurement resource, and a wireless communication devicetherefor.

Description of the Related Art

In Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A) Rel-11, it was agreed toconfigure measurement resource (MR) to each user equipment (UE) for atleast the purpose of deriving Channel Quality Indicator (CQI). A UE mayreport multiple CQIs. For each CQI, the signal part and interferencepart may be measured based on different MRs, respectively. To reducespecification effort and keep backward compatibility, the MRs areChannel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS) in Rel-10. The MRsfor signal measurement are non-zero-power (NZP) CSI-RS, while the MRsfor interference measurement can be zero-power CSI-RS.

It is noted that UE complexity increases with the number of configuredMRs. Because UE needs to prepare for possible aperiodic CSI request, UEhas to measure all the configured MRs even when some MR(s) does notcorrespond to any configured CSI reports. Therefore, it is sensible toapply some constraint on MR configurations to limit UE processingrequirements.

The most concerned UE complexity is how many MRs can be processed withinone subframe. As a consequence, the constraint is to limit/specify themaximum number of MR(s) that can be measured in one subframe.

However, in reality, a network (NW) may be difficult to avoidconfiguring a certain number of MRs in one subframe for a UE, especiallywhen the NW prefers a flexible Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) operation,in which MRs corresponding to various CoMP operations need to beconfigured. Therefore, the actually configured MRs may out-number themaximum MRs that a UE can measure, which is called MR collision in thisspecification. MR collision cannot be avoided even by elaborate MRallocation in some cases. For example, if joint transmission (JT) among3 cells (macro/pico/pico) is supported, it is not possible to avoid 3MRs in one subframe. FIG. 1 shows an example of MR collision. In FIG. 1,the number of actually configured MRs (MR1, MR2, and MR3) in somesubframes is 3, while the maximum number of MRs that a UE can measure inone subframe is only 2; therefore, MR collision occurs in somesubframes, which are embraced by the ellipses in FIG. 1.

One solution to solve the above problem that actually configured MRsout-number maximum MRs that a UE can measure is to disregard (notmeasure) all MRs within the subframe. However, this would causeinaccurate CQI and consequently reduce system throughput. The preferredUE behavior is to disregard only the over-numbered MR(s). UE maycalculate CQIs related to disregarded MR(s) based on old MRs. Anotheralternative is to report “out-of-range” CQI in this case and notcalculate CQIs. However, this alternative is not preferred because theoutdated MR may be still useful.

Which MR(s) are to be disregarded may be left as UE implementation andnot specified. However, in this case, the eNode B (eNB) does not knowwhich CQIs are calculated based on old MR(s). In other words, eNB has noinformation on which CQI(s) are out of date and could make wrongscheduling decisions. Therefore, it is preferred to specify and/orconfigure which MR(s) are disregarded at UE side.

The most straightforward way to disregard is based on priority, i.e.,the MR with lower priority is disregarded. The priority may beexplicitly signaled from eNB, or can be implicitly configured based onthe order of MR configuration. However, in this case, the MR with lowestpriority is always disregarded. If the collision occurs in all subframescontaining the MR with lowest priority, the CQI related to the lowestpriority is completely wrong. This is strongly not preferred. FIG. 2shows an example of disregarding based on priority. In this example,three MRs are configured, in which MR1 has the highest priority (mostimportant), MR2 has middle priority (second important), and MR3 has thelowest priority (least important). It is shown that MR3 is alwaysdisregarded in the subframes with collision since it has the lowestpriority. Therefore, CQI related to MR3 is completely wrong, which isnot acceptable.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In view of the above, the present disclosure is made to avoid alwaysdisregarding a same MR based on a specification and/or signaling assimple as possible.

In one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a wirelesscommunication method of configuring a measurement resource (MR),comprising: determining a MR to be disregarded when the number of MRsconfigured in one subframe exceeds the maximum number of MRs that a UEis able to measure in one subframe, wherein the MR with lower priorityis determined to be disregarded, and the MR is not disregarded A timeswithin the duration of N subframes, where A is an integer larger than 1,N corresponds to one plus B*periodicity of the MR, and B is an integerequal to or larger than 1.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided awireless communication method of configuring a measurement resource(MR), comprising: determining a MR to be disregarded when the number ofMRs configured in one subframe exceeds the maximum number of MRs that aUE is able to measure in one subframe, wherein the MR with lowerpriority is determined to be disregarded, and the priority of themeasurement resource is increased according to previous disregarding(s)of the measurement resource.

In a further aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided awireless communication method of configuring a measurement resource(MR), comprising: determining a MR to be disregarded when the number ofMRs configured in one subframe exceeds the maximum number of MRs that aUE is able to measure in one subframe, wherein the MR with lowerpriority is determined to be disregarded; and if a channel stateinformation (CSI) report is aperiodically triggered, increasing thepriority of MR(s) related to the CSI to be higher than other MR(s) whenthe MR(s) related to the CSI is between the aperiodic trigger andrelevant uplink (UL) CSI report.

In a further aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided awireless communication method of configuring a measurement resource(MR), comprising: determining a MR to be disregarded when the number ofMRs configured in one subframe exceeds the maximum number of MRs that aUE is able to measure in one subframe, wherein each configured MR isdisregarded one or more times in a round robin manner, and the MR withlower priority is disregarded no less than the one with higher priority.

In a further aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided awireless communication device of configuring a measurement resource(MR), comprising: a disregarding determination unit configured todetermine a MR to be disregarded when the number of MRs configured inone subframe exceeds the maximum number of MRs that a UE is able tomeasure in one subframe, wherein the MR with lower priority isdetermined to be disregarded, and the MR is not disregarded A timeswithin the duration of N subframes, where A is an integer larger than 1,N corresponds to one plus B*periodicity of the MR, and B is an integerequal to or larger than 1.

In a further aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided awireless communication device of configuring a measurement resource(MR), comprising: a disregarding determination unit configured todetermine a MR to be disregarded when the number of MRs configured inone subframe exceeds the maximum number of MRs that a UE is able tomeasure in one subframe, wherein the MR with lower priority isdetermined to be disregarded, and the priority of the measurementresource is increased according to previous disregarding(s) of themeasurement resource.

In a further aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided awireless communication device of configuring a measurement resource(MR), comprising: a disregarding determination unit configured todetermine a MR to be disregarded when the number of MRs configured inone subframe exceeds the maximum number of MRs that a UE is able tomeasure in one subframe, wherein the MR with lower priority isdetermined to be disregarded; and a priority increasing unit configuredto increase the priority of MR(s) related to a channel state information(CSI) report which is aperiodically triggered to be higher than otherMR(s) when the MR(s) related to the CSI is between the aperiodic triggerand relevant uplink (UL) CSI report.

In a further aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided awireless communication device of configuring a measurement resource(MR), comprising: a disregarding determination unit configured todetermine a MR to be disregarded when the number of MRs configured inone subframe exceeds the maximum number of MRs that a UE is able tomeasure in one subframe, wherein each configured MR is disregarded oneor more times in a round robin manner, and the MR with lower priority isdisregarded no less than the one with higher priority.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other features of the present disclosure will becomemore fully apparent from the following description and appended claims,taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Understanding thatthese drawings depict only several embodiments in accordance with thedisclosure and are, therefore, not to be considered as limiting of itsscope, the disclosure will be described with additional specificity anddetail through use of the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 schematically shows an example of MR collision;

FIG. 2 schematically shows the problem of disregarding solution purelybased on priority;

FIG. 3 schematically shows an exemplary flowchart of the method ofdisregarding MR according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 4 schematically shows an example of the method of disregarding MRaccording to the first embodiment;

FIG. 5 schematically shows another example of the method of disregardingMR according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 6 schematically shows another example of the method of disregardingMR according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 7 schematically shows another example of the method of disregardingMR according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 8 schematically shows an example of distinguishing between SMR andIMR according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram schematically showing a wireless communicationdevice 900 according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the method of disregarding MR accordingto the second embodiment;

FIG. 11 schematically shows an example of the method of disregarding MRwith adjustment of priority according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the method of disregarding MR accordingto the third embodiment;

FIG. 13 schematically shows an example of the method of disregarding MRwith adjustment of priority according to the third embodiment;

FIG. 14 schematically shows an example of the method of disregarding MRin a round robin manner according to the fourth embodiment; and

FIG. 15 schematically shows an example of the method of disregarding MRbased on the combination of round robin and priority according to thefourth embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, reference is made to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part thereof. In the drawings,similar symbols typically identify similar components, unless contextdictates otherwise. It will be readily understood that the aspects ofthe present disclosure can be arranged, substituted, combined, anddesigned in a wide variety of different configurations, all of which areexplicitly contemplated and make part of this disclosure.

First Embodiment

The first Embodiment of the present disclosure provides a wirelesscommunication method of configuring a measurement resource (MR),comprising: determining a MR to be disregarded when the number of MRsconfigured in one subframe exceeds the maximum number of MRs that a UEis able to measure in one subframe, wherein the MR with lower priorityis determined to be disregarded, and the MR is not disregarded A timeswithin the duration of N subframes, where A is an integer larger than 1,N corresponds to one plus B*periodicity of the MR, and B is an integerequal to or larger than 1. A and B can be configured by eNB or specifiedas fixed value. Larger A and smaller B means more disregarding of therelated MR.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of an exemplary implementation of the MRdisregarding method (i.e., the wireless communication method ofconfiguring MR) according to the first embodiment. At step 301, a MRwith the lowest priority is selected as a disregarding candidate (firstcandidate). At step 302, a determination is made as to whether thecandidate selected at step 301 is disregarded A times within N subframesif it is disregarded this time. If the candidate is not disregarded Atimes within N subframes for this disregarding (NO), then the processgoes to step 303, at which the candidate is determined to bedisregarded. If the candidate is disregarded A times within N subframesfor this disregarding (YES), then the process returns back to step 301,at which a further MR with the lowest priority among the MRs other thanthe first candidate is selected as a disregarding candidate (secondcandidate). Similar process will be conducted for the second candidateas for the first candidate. If there are more than one MRs needed to bedisregarded, i.e., the number of MRs configured in one subframe exceedsthe maximum number of MRs that a user equipment (UE) is able to measurein one subframe by more than one, the above steps 301-303 will berepeated for corresponding times. As mentioned in the Background, if aMR is disregarded, it is possible to report CSI calculated using oldmeasurement results or report CSI with invalid flag (out-of-range).

However, it is noted that FIG. 3 is only an example to implement the twoconditions, and other step flows may also be used to implement themethod according to the first embodiment. For example, the determinationas to whether a MR is disregarded A times within N subframes for thecurrent disregarding may be conducted before selecting a MR with thelowest priority, in other words, the MR(s) which are disregarded A timeswithin N subframes can be ruled out first, and then the MR(s) with thelowest priority among the remaining MRs are determined to bedisregarded.

In the following, several examples for parameters A and B are describedin detail. The parameters A and B may be configured by eNB, but may alsobe specified as fixed values.

FIG. 4 shows an example of A=2 and B=1 according to the first embodimentof the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4, there are configuredthree MRs with the priority in order of MR1, MR2, and MR3, and UE canonly measure two MRs in one subframe; therefore, one MR in eachcollision subframe should be disregarded. In this example, MR1 and MR2have the periodicity of 5 ms (i.e., 5 subframes), and MR3 has theperiodicity of 10 ms (i.e., 10 subframes); therefore, for MR1 and MR2,N=1+B*5=6, and for MR3, N=1+B*10+1=11. According to the constraint ofthe first embodiment, MR1 and MR2 should not be disregarded twice within6 subframes, and MR3 should not be disregarded twice within 11subframes. For the first collision subframe (the leftmost subframe inFIG. 4), MR3 with the lowest priority will be considered as adisregarding candidate, and since MR3 is disregarded for the first time,it satisfies the condition that MR3 is not disregarded twice within 11subframes; therefore, MR3 is disregarded in this subframe. Then, for thesecond collision subframe where MR3 appears for the second time, if MR3were also disregarded, MR3 would be disregarded for the second timewithin 11 subframes (counted inclusively from the first collisionsubframe to the second collision subframe), which does not stratify thecondition that MR3 should not be disregarded twice within 11 subframes.Therefore, MR3 is not determined to be disregarded in the secondcollision subframe though it has the lowest priority. At this point,only M1 and M2 can be considered to be disregarded. Since M2 has lowerpriority and it is not disregarded twice within 6 subframes, M2 isdetermined to be disregarded in the second collision subframe. With thesimilar determination manner, M3 and M2 are disregarded respectively inthe third and fourth collision subframes. It is seen from the abovedescription that more important MR is disregarded less and the leastimportant MR (MR3 in this example) is not always disregarded based on asimple specification description. However, it is noted that A is notlimited to 2 and B is not limited to 1, rather A can be any integerlarger than 1 (e.g., 2, 3, 4 . . . ) and B can be any integer equal toor larger than 1(e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4 . . . ). In addition, the configuredMRs are not limited to three, and the MRs that a UE can measure in onesubframe are not limited to two, rather the present disclosure can beapplied to any configuration on them.

FIG. 5 shows another example of A=2 and B=1, in which four MRs with thepriority in order of MR1, MR2, MR3, and MR4 are configured and UE canonly measure two MRs in one subframe. Therefore, one MR in somecollision subframe(s) and two MRs in some other collision subframe(s)should be disregarded. In this example, MR1 and MR2 have the periodicityof 5 ms (i.e., 5 subframes), MR3 has the periodicity of 10 ms (i.e., 10subframes), and MR4 has the periodicity of 20 ms (i.e., 20 subframes);therefore, for MR1 and MR2, N=1+B*5=6, for MR3, N=1+B*10+1=11, and forMR4, N=1+B*20+1=21. According to the constraint of the first embodiment,MR1 and MR2 should not be disregarded twice within 6 subframes, MR3should not be disregarded twice within 11 subframes, and MR4 should notbe disregarded twice within 21 subframes. For the first collisionsubframe (the leftmost subframe in FIG. 5), there exist four MRs, andthus two MRs should be selected to be disregarded. MR3 and MR4 whichhave lower priority are first considered as disregarding candidates, andsince MR3 and MR3 are disregarded for the first time, it is satisfiedthat MR3 is not disregarded twice within 11 subframes and MR4 is notdisregarded twice within 21 subframes; therefore, MR3 and MR4 aredisregarded in this subframe. Then, for the second collision subframewhere MR3 appears for the second time, there only exist three MRs (MR1,MR2, and MR3) and thus only one MR should be disregarded. Here, if MR3were also disregarded, MR3 would be disregarded for the second timewithin 11 subframes (counted inclusively from the first collisionsubframe to the second collision subframe), which does not satisfy thecondition that MR3 should not be disregarded twice within 11 subframes.Therefore, MR3 is not determined to be disregarded in the secondcollision subframe though it has the lowest priority. At this point,only M1 and M2 can be considered to be disregarded. Since M2 has lowerpriority and it is not disregarded twice within 6 subframes, M2 isdetermined to be disregarded in the second collision subframe. For thethird collision subframe where MR3 appears for the third time, thereexit four MRs, and thus two MRs should be disregarded. Here, althoughMR4 has the lowest priority, it would be disregarded for the second timewithin 21 subframes, if MR4 were disregarded in this subframe;therefore, MR4 are not disregarded in this subframe, and MR2 and MR3 aredisregarded in this subframe since they have lower priority than MR1 andthey are not disregarded twice within respective 6 and 11 subframes.Based on the similar determination manner, MR2 is disregarded in thethird collision subframe, and MR3 and MR4 are disregarded in the fourthcollision subframe. With the above described manner of disregarding aMR, within 40 ms (40 subframes), MR1 is disregarded zero time (0%), MR2is disregarded three times (37.5% of the total number of MR2), MR3 isdisregarded twice (50% of the total number of MR3), and MR4 isdisregarded once (50% of the total number of MR4). It is derived thatmore important MR is disregarded less and no MR is always disregarded.

Further, in order to disregard less important MR(s) more, differentvalues of A and B can be configured for different MRs. FIG. 6 shows anexample of A=3, B=2 for the least important MR (MR3 in FIG. 6), and A=2,B=1 for other MRs (MR1 and MR2 in FIG. 6), wherein three MRs areconfigured, and an UE can measure two MRs in one subframe. As shown inFIG. 6, the constraint according to the first embodiment for MR1 to MR3is that MR3 is not disregarded three times within 21 (21=1+2*10)subframes and MR1 and MR2 are not disregarded twice within 6 (6=1+5)subframes. Therefore, based on the determination manner similar to FIG.4, MR3 is determined to be disregarded for the first, second and fourthcollision subframes in FIG. 6 since MR3 is not disregarded three timeswithin 21 subframes at these subframes and MR3 has the lowest priority,and MR2 is determined to be disregarded for the third collision subframesince MR3 which has lower priority than MR2 would be disregarded threetimes within 21 subframes if MR3 were disregarded in this collisionsubframe. According to the configuration of FIG. 6, the less importantMR3 is disregarded more compared with the configuration of FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 shows an example of A=3, B=2 for the least important MR (MR4 inFIG. 7), and A=2, B=1 for other MRs (MR1, MR2 and MR3 in FIG. 7),wherein four MRs are configured, and an UE can measure two MRs in onesubframe. As shown in FIG. 7, the constraint according to the firstembodiment for MR1 to MR4 is that MR4 is not disregarded three timeswithin 41 (41=1+2*20) subframes, MR1 and MR2 are not disregarded twicewithin 6 (6=1+5) subframes, and MR3 are not disregarded twice within 11(11=1+10) subframes. Therefore, based on the determination mannersimilar to FIG. 5, both MR3 and MR4 are determined to be disregarded forthe first and third collision subframes, both MR2 and MR4 are determinedto be disregarded for the fifth collision subframe, and only MR2 isdetermined to be disregarded for the second and fourth collisionsubframes. With the configuration of FIG. 7, within 60 ms (60subframes), MR1 is disregarded zero time (0%), MR2 is disregarded fourtimes (33% of the total number of MR2), MR3 is disregarded three times(50% of the total number of MR3), and MR4 is disregarded twice (66% ofthe total number of MR4). It is obvious that the less important MR4 isdisregarded more compared with the configuration of FIG. 5.

Further, it may be advantageous to distinguish between signalmeasurement resource (SMR) and interference measurement resource (IMR).For example, in practice, SMR may be more important than IMR; therefore,eNB implementation may assign higher priority to SMR. Alternatively, MRpriority can be fixed in the specification. For example, SMR can beconfigured to have higher priority than IMR. FIG. 8 shows an exampledistinguishing SMR and IMR. In this example, MR1 and MR3 are IMRs, andMR2 is SMR, so MR2 has higher priority than MR1 and MR3. In addition,eNB configures MR3 has lower priority than MR1. Based on the samedetermination manner with respect to FIG. 4, MR2 is less disregarded(not disregarded at all in this case) since it is a SMR. It is notedthat SMR may also be configured to have lower priority than IMR. Inaddition, the concept of distinguishing between SMR and IMR may also beapplied to other embodiments.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a wireless communication device 900according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. Thewireless communication device could be a UE or an eNB. The wirelesscommunication device 900 includes a MR disregarding determination unit901 configured to determine a MR to be disregarded when the number ofMRs configured in one subframe exceeds the maximum number of MRs that aUE is able to measure in one subframe, wherein the MR with lowerpriority is determined to be disregarded, and the MR is not disregardedA times within the duration of N subframes, where A is an integer largerthan 1, N corresponds to one plus B*periodicity of the MR in the unit ofsubframe, and B is an integer equal to or larger than 1.

The wireless communication device 900 according to the presentdisclosure may further include a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 910 forexecuting related programs to process various data and controloperations of respective units in the wireless communication device 900,a ROM (Read Only Memory) 913 for storing various programs required forperforming various process and control by the CPU 910, a RAM (RandomAccess Memory) 915 for storing intermediate data temporarily produced inthe procedure of process and control by the CPU 910, and/or a storageunit 917 for storing various programs, data and so on. The above MRdisregarding determination unit 901, CPU 910, ROM 913, RAM 915 and/orstorage unit 917, etc., may be interconnected via data and/or commandbus 920 and transfer signals between one another.

Respective units as described above do not limit the scope of thepresent disclosure. The functions of the MR disregarding determinationunit 901 may be implemented as a separate unit, and may also beimplemented by functional software in combination with the above CPU910, ROM 913, RAM 915 and/or storage unit 917, etc.

Second Embodiment

The second embodiment of the present disclosure provides a wirelesscommunication method of configuring a measurement resource (MR) a shownin FIG. 10, comprising: determining a MR to be disregarded when thenumber of MRs configured in one subframe exceeds the maximum number ofMRs that a UE is able to measure in one subframe, wherein the MR withlower priority is determined to be disregarded, and the priority of themeasurement resource is increased according to previous disregarding(s)of the measurement resource (1001).

In order to avoid always disregarding the least important MR, the secondembodiment provides a way to adjust priority based on disregarding. TheeNB can configure each MR with an initial priority. The MR with lowestpriority is determined to be disregarded, but the priority of a MR incurrent subframe can be increased according to the disregarding(s) ofthe MR in previous subframes. FIG. 11 shows an example of adjustingpriority based on disregarding. As shown in FIG. 11, initially MR1 hasthe highest priority, MR3 has the lowest priority, and MR2 has themedium priority. MR3 is disregarded in the first collision subframesince it has the lowest priority. After this disregarding, the priorityof MR3 is increased by a certain value (which can be configured by eNB)for the following subframes. In the second collision subframe, althoughthe priority of MR3 is increased according to the first disregarding ofMR3, it is still lower than MR2 (in other cases, the priority of MR3 canalso be increased to be higher than MR2), and thus MR3 is alsodisregarded. Then, the priority of MR3 is increased again for thefollowing subframes. Therefore, in the third collision subframe, thepriority of MR3 is actually increased to be higher than MR2 according tothe disregarding in both the first and the second collision subframes,and thus MR2 is disregarded since its priority is the lowest at thispoint. With the method according to the second embodiment with theadjustment of priority, no MR is always dropped. In addition, in orderto avoid the priority of a MR being increased infinitely, the eNB canconfigure an effective window. The effective window is a time window anddefined that only the previous disregarding(s) within the effectivewindow can be considered to increase the priority of a MR in the currentsubframe. For example, if the effective window for MR3 is configured as20 ms (20 subframes), and a MR in subframe n (current subframe) isconsidered, then only the disregarding(s) of the MR in a duration(effective window) from subframe n-20 to n-1 is considered to increasethe priority of the MR in subframe n. In this way, only recentdisregarding(s) are considered, and it is avoided to ever increase thepriority of a MR.

Similar to the first embodiment, a wireless communication deviceaccording to the second embodiment can be configured, which can have asimilar configuration to FIG. 9 except that the disregardingdetermination unit 901 is replaced by a disregarding determination unitconfigured to determine a MR to be disregarded when the number of MRsconfigured in one subframe exceeds the maximum number of MRs that a UEis able to measure in one subframe, wherein the MR with lower priorityis determined to be disregarded, and the priority of the measurementresource is increased according to previous disregarding(s) of themeasurement resource.

Third Embodiment

In order to avoid disregarding MR that is related to important CSIreports. For example, if a CSI report is aperiodically triggered, therelevant MR may not be disregarded when the MR is between the aperiodictrigger and relevant uplink (UL) CSI report. In view of this, the thirdembodiment of the present disclosure provides a wireless communicationmethod of configuring a measurement resource (MR) as shown in FIG. 12,comprising: determining a MR to be disregarded when the number of MRsconfigured in one subframe exceeds the maximum number of MRs that a UEis able to measure in one subframe, wherein the MR with lower priorityis determined to be disregarded (1201); and if a channel stateinformation (CSI) report is aperiodically triggered, increasing thepriority of MR(s) related to the CSI to be higher than other MR(s) whenthe MR(s) related to the CSI is between the aperiodic trigger andrelevant uplink (UL) CSI report (1202).

FIG. 13 shows an example of MRs between an aperiodic trigger and therelevant UL CSI reporting. As shown in FIG. 13, MR2, MR3, and MR4 arerelated to the CSI report, and thus the priority of MR2, MR3 and MR4 isincreased to be higher than MR1 between the aperiodic trigger and therelevant UL CSI reporting. Therefore, MR1 is disregarded in thecollision subframe since its priority is the lowest at this point. Inthis way, disregarding MR that is related to important CSI reports isavoided. It is noted that the concept of increasing the priority of MRthat is related to aperiodic trigger for CSI reporting can also beapplied to the first and second embodiment.

Further, Similar to the first embodiment, a wireless communicationdevice according to the third embodiment can be configured, which canhave a similar configuration to FIG. 9 except that the disregardingdetermination unit 901 is replaced by a disregarding determination unitconfigured to determine a MR to be disregarded when the number of MRsconfigured in one subframe exceeds the maximum number of MRs that a UEis able to measure in one subframe, wherein the MR with lower priorityis determined to be disregarded, and a priority increasing unitconfigured to increase the priority of MR(s) related to a channel stateinformation (CSI) report which is aperiodically triggered to be higherthan other MR(s) when the MR(s) related to the CSI is between theaperiodic trigger and relevant uplink (UL) CSI report.

Fourth Embodiment

In order to avoid always disregarding the least import MR, a fourthembodiment of the present disclosure provides a wireless communicationmethod of a wireless communication method of configuring a measurementresource (MR), comprising: determining a MR to be disregarded when thenumber of MRs configured in one subframe exceeds the maximum number ofMRs that a UE is able to measure in one subframe, wherein eachconfigured MR is disregarded one or more times in a round robin manner,and the MR with lower priority is disregarded no less than the one withhigher priority.

First, the UE can disregard different MR in a basic round robin mannerin different collision subframes, i.e., each configured MR isdisregarded once within one cycle in a round robin manner. FIG. 14 showsan example of a disregarding method based on a basic round robin manner.In this example, MR3, MR2 and MR1 are disregarded one after another in acycling manner. Specifically, MR3 is disregarded in the first collisionsubframe, MR2 is disregarded in the second collision subframe, and thenMR1 is disregarded in the third collision subframe.

As an improvement to the basic round robin manner, it is possible to usethe combination of round robin and priority, in other words, eachconfigured MR is disregarded one or more times in a round robin manner,and a MR with lower priority is disregarded no less than the one withhigher priority in each cycle. FIG. 15 shows an example of thedisregarding method based on the combination and round robin. In thisexample, MR3 has the lowest priority, so MR3 is configured to bedisregarded twice in each cycle, and MR1 and MR2 are configured to beonly disregarded once in each cycle. Specifically, MR3 is disregardedtwice in the first and second collision subframes, MR2 is disregardedonce in the third collision subframe, and then MR1 is disregarded oncein the fourth collision subframe. After this cycle, the same patternwill be repeated for the next cycle, and so on. With the combination ofround bobbin and priority, no MR will always be disregarded, and theless important MR can be disregarded more.

Further, Similar to the first embodiment, a wireless communicationdevice according to the fourth embodiment can be configured, which canhave a similar configuration to FIG. 9 except that the disregardingdetermination unit 901 is replaced by a disregarding determination unitconfigured to determine a MR to be disregarded when the number of MRsconfigured in one subframe exceeds the maximum number of MRs that a UEis able to measure in one subframe, wherein each configured MR isdisregarded one or more times in a round robin manner, and the MR withlower priority is disregarded no less than the one with higher priority.

The present disclosure can be realized by software, hardware, orsoftware in cooperation with hardware. Each functional block used in thedescription of each embodiment described above can be realized by an LSIas an integrated circuit. They may be individually formed as chips, orone chip may be formed so as to include a part or all of the functionalblocks. The LSI here may be referred to as an IC, a system LSI, a superLSI, or an ultra LSI depending on a difference in the degree ofintegration. However, the technique of implementing an integratedcircuit is not limited to the LSI and may be realized by using adedicated circuit or a general-purpose processor. In addition, a FPGA(Field Programmable Gate Array) that can be programmed after themanufacture of the LSI or a reconfigurable processor in which theconnections and the settings of circuits cells disposed inside the LSIcan be reconfigured may be used. Further, the calculation of eachfunctional block can be performed by using calculating means, forexample, including a DSP or a CPU, and the processing step of eachfunction may be recorded on a recording medium as a program forexecution. Furthermore, when a technology for implementing an integratedcircuit that substitutes the LSI appears in accordance with theadvancement of the semiconductor technology or other derivativetechnologies, it is apparent that the functional block may be integratedby using such technologies.

It is noted that the present disclosure intends to be variously changedor modified by those skilled in the art based on the descriptionpresented in the specification and known technologies without departingfrom the content and the scope of the present disclosure, and suchchanges and applications fall within the scope that claimed to beprotected. Furthermore, in a range not departing from the content of thedisclosure, the constituent elements of the above-described embodimentsmay be arbitrarily combined.

1. An integrated circuit comprising: circuitry, which, in operation,determines at least one measurement resource, among at least twomeasurement resources configured per subframe, to be unreported when anumber of the measurement resources configured in one subframe exceeds amaximum number of measurement resources that can be measured by a userequipment in one subframe, wherein the at least one measurement resourceis determined based on a lowest priority assigned thereto and based on anumber of unreported measurement resources within N subframes before asubframe in which the at least one measurement resource corresponding tothe unreported measurement resources is configured, wherein N is aninteger greater than 1, and determines not to update a CSI (ChannelState Information) for the unreported measurement resource per subframe,and at least one output node coupled to the circuitry which, inoperation, outputs a CSI for a measurement resource to be reported. 2.The integrated circuit according to claim 1, wherein a signalmeasurement resource is configured to have higher priority than aninterference measurement resource.
 3. The integrated circuit accordingto claim 1, wherein the circuitry, in operation, increases the priorityof measurement resource(s) related to a CSI report, which isaperiodically triggered, to be higher than other measurement resource(s)when the measurement resource(s) related to the CSI report are betweenan aperiodic trigger and a relevant uplink CSI report.
 4. The integratedcircuit according to claim 1, wherein the priority of the measurementresource is increased according to previous unreporting(s) of themeasurement resource.
 5. The integrated circuit according to claim 4,wherein only previous unreporting(s) of the measurement resource withinan effective window is considered to increase the priority of themeasurement resource.
 6. The integrated circuit according to claim 4,wherein the circuitry, in operation, increases the priority ofmeasurement resource(s) related to a CSI report, which is aperiodicallytriggered, to be higher than other measurement resource(s) when themeasurement resource(s) related to the CSI report are between anaperiodic trigger and a relevant uplink CSI report.
 7. The integratedcircuit according to claim 1, wherein each configured measurementresource is unreported one or more times in a round robin manner, andthe measurement resource with lower priority is unreported no less thanthe one with higher priority.
 8. The integrated circuit according toclaim 1, wherein the measurement resource is not unreported A timeswithin the duration of N subframes, where A is an integer larger than 1,N corresponds to one plus B*periodicity of the measurement resource, andB is an integer equal to or larger than
 1. 9. The integrated circuitaccording to claim 8, wherein A is equal to 2, and B is equal to
 1. 10.The integrated circuit according to claim 8, wherein for the measurementresource with the lowest priority, A is equal to 3, and B is equal to 2,and for other measurement resource(s), A is equal to 2, and B is equalto 1.